Los Angeles Angels fans experienced a few seconds of panic Thursday. News broke that star two-way player Shohei Ohtani was scratched from his start. Considering Ohtani’s velocity was down his last time out, fans feared the worst for the new AL MVP favorite.
That fear proved to be unfounded. Ohtani is completely healthy, and will serve as the designated hitter during Thursday’s game. So, why didn’t Ohtani start? He — and a bunch of his teammates — were late to Oakland Coliseum after a car crash forced the Angels to use public transportation.
The team bus reportedly got stuck in traffic after there was a car crash on the Bay Bridge. As a result, Angels players hopped on the BART — a public transit system in the Bay Area — and used that to get to the stadium.
The Angels apparently told reporters the team had an issue on the BART, but the transit system’s Twitter account disputed that part of the story.
The players arrived to Oakland Coliseum later than usual, and Ohtani didn’t have enough time to go through his normal starting pitcher preparation, leading to him being scratched.
Ohtani will serve as the starting pitcher for Friday’s game against the Oakland Athletics.
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